Stone washing
Stone washing is a textile manufacturing process used to give a newly manufactured cloth garment a worn-out appearance. Stone-washing also helps to increase the softness and flexibility of otherwise stiff and rigid fabrics such as canvas and denim.
The process uses large stones to roughen up the fabric being processed. The garments are placed in a large horizontal industrial clothes washer that is also filled with large stones. As the wash cylinder rotates, the cloth fibers are repeatedly pounded and beaten as the tumbling stones ride up the paddles inside the drum and fall back down onto the fabric.
A number of people and organizations have claimed to have invented stone-washing. According to Levi Strauss & Co., Donald Freeland, an employee of the Great Western Garment Company (later acquired by Levi's), invented "stone-washing" denim in the 1950s. Inventor Claude Blankiet has also been credited with having invented the technique in the 1970s.[1] The jeans company Edwin claims to have invented the technique in the 1980s.[2]
Stonewashed jeans
Stonewashed jeans are jeans that have been treated to produce a faded, worn appearance. This is usually accomplished either by washing the jeans with pumice in a rotating drum, or also by using chemicals to create the appearance without the use of a rotating drum. Stonewashed jeans were a popular 1980s fashion trend.[3] In the 2000s, stonewashed jeans were heavily distressed, with pre-made holes, frayed edges and extensive fading caused by sandblasting
The fungus Trichoderma is also commonly used in the process of "stone-washing" jean material. Since the fungus decomposes cellulose with the enzymes that it produces, this allows for the characteristic appearance that the jeans have been washed with a stone.
Acid Washed jeans
Acid-washed denim is washed with pumice stones and chlorine until it is bleached almost white. The process was invented in Italy by the Rifle jeans company. —The process of acid washing jeans may have been invented by the Rifle company. However, way earlier, back in 1969, a young Malibu, Ca. resident and surfer by the name of Logan Bellows wanted a way to make his newly purchased Levi 501's to resemble his favorite pair he had cherished for years. Logan started the process of antiquing these new 501 by traveling out to his parents desert home in a small town near Palm Springs. He would take a few new pairs of 501's and wire them to the roof of his parents vacation home to fade in the slouching sun and harsh conditions , then return months later to turn them over. This process simply took to long. Logan, being the artist, innovator and style guru that he was knew he could find a better solution. He figured he could mix an excessive amount of simple chlorine bleach and muriatic acid that was found poolside at the desert home along with various other chemicals and some beach sand would speed up the process. Voila, the brand-new, yet antiqued, 501's were a hit amongst his friends. And soon after they were found sagging low on the torsos of all the Mesa Cool Cats.— Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Acid washed jeans made a comeback in the late 2000s among teenage girls.[4]